Pursuivant is the name for an apprentice or a probationary herald. Unlike full heralds, pursuivants were not required to take an oath; they could renounce their office at any time. The requirements to become a pursuivant were to be well educated and of good standing, in addition they had to serve an apprenticeship of varying length sometimes as short as four years, sometimes as long as seven. Fifteenth century writers remark that pursuivants were appointed on the recommendation of two heralds, who must testify to their discretion, virtue and honesty. The ceremony surrounding the creation of a pursuivant involved him being led into his future lord’s presence by a herald. After which, the lord would pour water on the pursuivant’s head giving him his name. Usually the cup would be given as a gift to the pursuivant.
One would have been able to distinguish a pursuivant from a full herald because they wore their coats of arms “athwart” meaning they wore them sideways so that the short arms were the front and back and the long front and back were the arms—a custom that lasted for pusuivants until the reign of Elizabeth I.

An example of a pursuivant herald wearing his tabard “athwart.”